We consider additive intensity (Aalen) models as an alternative to the multiplicative intensity (Cox) models
for analyzing the default risk of a sample of rated, non- nancial U.S. rms. The setting allows for estimating
and testing the signi cance of time-varying e ects. We use a variety of model checking techniques to identify
misspeci cations. In our nal model we nd evidence of time-variation in the e ects of distance-to-default and
short-to-long term debt, we identify interactions between distance-to-default and other covariates, and the quick
ratio covariate is signi cant. None of our macroeconomic covariates are signi cant.

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Investors value the liquidity and safety of US Treasuries. We document
this by showing that changes in Treasury supply have large effects on
a variety of yield spreads. As a result, Treasury yields are reduced by
73 basis points, on average, from 1926 to 2008. Both the liquidity and
safety attributes of Treasuries are driving this phenomenon. We document
this by analyzing the spread between assets with different liquidity
(but similar safety) and those with different safety (but similar
liquidity). The low yield on Treasuries due to their extreme safety and
liquidity suggests that Treasuries in important respects are similar to
money.

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A response to Marianne de Laet’s “Anthropology as social epistemology”

Ratner, Helene(, 2013)

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Abstract:

As her title indicates, Marianne de Laet suggests that social epistemology could be
thought of as anthropology, in terms of how this mode of knowing has helped flesh out
the social dimensions of scientific knowledge. She does so firstly, by accounting for how
anthropological methods and concepts have contributed to science and technology studies
(STS) by providing an alternative to “believing the natives” i.e., scientists, hence
challenging positivist and objectivist accounts of science. She then specifies selected
analytical insights of anthropology. The concepts ‘culture’ and ‘practice’, she argues,
enable us to learn how “knowledge is social in an epistemic sense” (2012, 421). She
concludes her argument by questioning the distinction between epistemology and
ontology, maintaining that anthropology is social epistemology.
De Laet touches several key debates in the history of STS and much of her commentary
on the sociality of knowledge is difficult to disagree with. There are however, also some
elements in her argument with which I wish to engage critically. These include the
relationship between anthropology and STS and the relationship between the concepts of
culture and ontology. I will do so by drawing my inspiration from a contemporary a
debate across STS and anthropology that — like de Laet — regards entanglements of
epistemology and ontology, practice, and materiality. This project is also known as post-
ANT and empirical philosophy in STS (Mol 2002; Gad and Bruun Jensen 2010, 55-80;
Law and Hassard 1999) and lateral, multi-natural and ontological engagements in
anthropology (Maurer 2005; Riles 2000; Strathern 2004 [1991]; Carrithers et al. 2010,
152-200; Viveiros de Castro 2004, 463-484). De Laet mentions some of the same sources.
I will focus my commentary on these debates’ implications for the concept of culture and
“our terminological tinkering” (2012, 420). My aim is to provide a different account of
what anthropology has to offer STS and, as a consequence, to keep some interesting
tensions open between the conceptual and the empirical, between “us” and “them”, which
I believe de Laet resolves too quickly.

This paper addresses recent calls to narrow the micro–macro gap in management research (Bamberger, 2008),
by incorporating a macro-level context variable (country) in exploring micro-level determinants of board
effectiveness. Following the integrated model proposed by Forbes and Milliken (1999), we identify three
board processes as micro-level determinants of board effectiveness. Specifically, we focus on effort norms,
cognitive conflicts and the use of knowledge and skills as determinants of board control and advisory task
performance. Further, we consider how two different institutional settings influence board tasks, and how the
context moderates the relationship between processes and tasks. Our hypotheses are tested on a survey-based
dataset of 535 medium-sized and large industrial firms in Italy and Norway, which are considered to
substantially differ along legal and cultural dimensions. The findings show that: (i) Board processes have a
larger potential than demographic variables to explain board task performance; (ii) board task performance
differs significantly between boards operating in different contexts; and (iii) national context moderates the
relationships between board processes and board task performance. Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons,
Ltd.

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Public debate as the solution to controversies about science and technology

Horst, Maja(Frederiksberg, 2010)

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Abstract:

Developments in biotechnology have sparked a number of social controversies during the last decades and it has been common to understand public debate as a necessary prerequisite for the ability to deal with these controversies. This is particularly true in the case of Denmark, where public debate has been taking place for more than 25 years, and the paper uses the Danish example to argue that controversies about biotechnology intersect with fundamental political discussions about order and control in today’s knowledge society. Inspired by cultural theory and the work of Mary Douglas, it is proposed that arguments about biotechnology are justified by reference to particular articulations of social order. Her four notions of social order are identified in the analysis of a sample of arguments from four major Danish newspapers. On the basis of this typology, the paper examines the broad discursive consensus in favour of public debate and participatory exercises regarding the social responses to biotechnology. It does, however, simultaneously point to inherent tensions in the expectations towards public debate and its role in the creation of solutions to controversies over science and technology.

The purpose of this article is to explore how Chinese and expatriate managers,
working in subsidiaries of five MNCs, communicate and collaborate, what kind of cultural
encounters they talk about and give prominence to in their accounts of critical incidents, how
they reflect upon them/ explain them, and how they cope with perceived similarities and
differences to improve cross-cultural communication and collaboration within a global
organization.
Using an inductive qualitative methodology and thematic analysis, the study draws on indepth
narrative interviews with 29 expatriate and 39 Chinese managers and experts.
The specific value of this paper is that it explores a hitherto under-researched issue and
provides insight into well-educated expatriate and Chinese managers´ accounts of how they
perceive themselves and others in a multicultural work context. In both groups we find widely
traveled, flexible and open-minded people, who are ready and have the capabilities to conduct
cross-cultural leadership.

Constant Proportion Debt Obligations (CPDOs) are structured credit
derivatives which generate high coupon payments by dynamically leveraging
a position in an underlying portfolio of investment grade index default
swaps. CPDO coupons and principal notes received high initial credit ratings
from the major rating agencies, based on complex models for the joint
transition of ratings and spreads for all names in the underlying portfolio.
We propose a parsimonious model for analyzing the performance of
CPDO strategies using a top-down approach which captures the essential
risk factors of the CPDO. Our approach allows to compute default
probabilities, loss distributions and other tail risk measures for the CPDO
strategy and analyze the dependence of these risk measures on various
parameters describing the risk factors. We nd that the probability of
the CPDO defaulting on its coupon payments is found to be small{and
thus the credit rating arbitrarily high{ by increasing leverage, but the ratings
obtained strongly depend on assumptions on the credit environment
(high spread or low spread). More importantly, CPDO loss distributions
are found to be bimodal with a wide range of tail risk measures inside a
given rating category, suggesting that credit ratings are insu cient performance
indicators for such complex leveraged strategies. A worst-case
scenario analysis indicates that CPDO strategies have a high exposure to
persistent spread-widening scenarios CPDO ratings are shown to be quite
unstable during the lifetime of the strategy.

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In this paper, we suggest that many of the choice situations confronting consumers in the modern marketplace have become supra-complex. Supra-complex decision-making occurs when the perceived difficulty of transforming product information into knowledge exceeds the expected benefits of doing so, even if decision-making heuristics, or other kind of attribute-related decision rules, are applied. Under conditions of supra-complexity, we propose that consumers instead use mental markers in order to justify their decisions. Mental markers are any mental construct the consumer uses for the purpose of gaining mental justification of overall choices. We argue that the usage of mental markers leads to reductions in cognitive dissonance, reduced usage of mental resources and time. Drawing on the principle of mental justification as well as consumers’ propensity to use goals as blueprints for directing their behaviour, we propose a framework for understanding consumer decisions when faced with supra-complexity.

We analyze liquidity components of corporate bond spreads during 2005–2009 using a
new robust illiquidity measure. The spread contribution from illiquidity increases
dramatically with the onset of the subprime crisis. The increase is slow and persistent
for investment grade bonds while the effect is stronger but more short-lived for
speculative grade bonds. Bonds become less liquid when financial distress hits a lead
underwriter and the liquidity of bonds issued by financial firms dries up under crises.
During the subprime crisis, flight-to-quality is confined to AAA-rated bonds.

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Despite the celebration and promotion of the creative economy, there is still a “dark” side
to creativity. Creativity entails experimentation, chaos and failures. A creative space blends the
aesthetics with chaos, sleek design with experimentation, and economic development with
failed ideas. This case looks at the ambiguous and ambivalent interfaces of history in the
historical city of Melaka (also known as Malacca) in Malaysia.
History, by its definition, is a documentation of the past. Any historical documentation
can be contested and revised. This case will not engage in the debate on revisionist history.
Instead, it will show how history and heritage is negotiated and appropriated under present
circumstances in the historic city of Melaka. The re‐interpretation and revision of history is part
of the everyday creative response to changing circumstances. Such contemporary responses to
the past, however unclear and acrimonious, are the essence of a creative place.

Purpose: The effects of supply chain risk management (SCRM) on the performance of a supply chain
remain unexplored. It is assumed that SCRM helps supply chains to cope with vulnerabilities
both proactively by supporting robustness and reactively by supporting agility. Both
dimensions are assumed to have an influence on supply chain performance and on business
performance. This research is aimed at providing clarity by empirically testing these
hypotheses and scrutinizing the findings by the means of case studies.
Design/methodology/approach: The research is empirical. Survey data was collected from 270 manufacturing companies for
hypotheses testing via structural equation modeling. Additionally, qualitative data was
collected to explore the nature of non-hypothesized findings.
Findings: It is found that SCRM is important for agility and robustness of a company. Both agility and
robustness show to be important in improving performance. While agility has a strong
positive effect only on supply chain performance, but not directly on business performance,
robustness has a strong positive effect on both performance dimensions. This important
finding directs the strategic attention from agility-centered supply chains to ones that are both
robust and agile. The case studies provide insights to the fact that robustness can be
considered a basic prerequisite to deal with supplier-side risks, while agility is necessary to
deal with customer-side risks. The amount of agility and robustness needs to fit to the
competitive strategy.
Practical implications: Since volatility has increasingly become a prevalent state of supply chains, companies need
to consider robustness to be of primary importance to withstand everyday risks and
exceptions.
Originality/value: This is the first study to view the relationship between SCRM, agility/robustness, and
performance.

We consider a dynamic trade-off model of a firm’s capital structure with
debt renegotiation. Debt holders only accept restructuring offers from equity
holders backed by threats which are in the equity holders’ own interest to
execute. Our model shows that in a complete information model in which
taxes and bankruptcy costs are the only frictions, violations of the absolute
priority rule (APR) are typically optimal. The size of the bankruptcy costs
and the equity holders’ bargaining power affect the size of APR violations,
but they have only a minor impact on the choice of capital structure.

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Purpose: For the last three decades, Stakeholder management has been concerned either with strategic business management or business ethics, values and quality. Many models have been developed, but recently the literature asks for more dynamic models that can explain the complexities of the interaction between a corporation and its stakeholders. Methodology/approach: This paper offers a theoretical ‘Organic Stakeholder Model’ based on decision making theory, risk assessment and adaption to a rapidly changing world combined with appropriate stakeholder theory for ethical purposes in decision making processes in businesses. Findings: The concept of the ‘Organic Stakeholder Model’ is derived from observational studies of publicly owned enterprises from 2004 - 2011. The paper encourages researchers to test the validity of the model in any kind of business model. Practical implications (if applicable): The Model is based on case studies, but the limited scope of the length of the paper did not leave room to show the empirical evidence, but only the theoretical study. Originality / value of a paper: The model offers a new way of combining risk management with ethical decision-making processes by the inclusion of multiple stakeholders. The conceptualization of the model enhances business ethics in decision making by managing and balancing stakeholder concerns with the same concerns as the traditional risk management models does – for the sake of the wider social responsibilities of the businesses and its stakeholders.

Eye tracking has been used successfully as a technique for measuring cognitive load in reading, psycholinguistics, writing, language acquisition etc for some time now. Its application as a technique for automatically measuring the reading ease of MT output has not yet, to our knowledge, been tested. We report here on a preliminary study testing the use and validity of an eye tracking methodology as a means of semi- and/or automatically evaluating machine translation output. 50 French machine translated sentences, 25 rated as excellent and 25 rated as poor in an earlier human evaluation, were selected. 10 native speakers of French were instructed to read the MT sentences for comprehensibility. Their eye gaze data were recorded non-invasively using a Tobii 1750 eye tracker. The average gaze time and fixation count were found to be higher for the “bad” sentences, while average fixation duration and pupil dilations were not found to be substantially different between output rated as good or bad. Comparisons between BLEU scores and eye gaze data were also made and found to correlate well with gaze time and fixation count, and to a lesser extent with pupil dilation and fixation duration. We conclude that the eye tracking data, in particular gaze time and fixation count, correlate reasonably well with human evaluation of MT output but fixation duration and pupil dilation may be less reliable indicators of reading difficulty for MT output. We also conclude that eye tracking has promise as an automatic MT Evaluation technique.

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In
recent
years,
research
collaboration
between
academic
and
corporate
scientists
has
become
a
matter
of
concern
for
policy
makers
as
well
as
research
managers
in
academia
and
industry.
Often,
both
in
public
research
policies
and
in
university
and
company
strategies,
science-industry
collaboration
has
been
presented
as
a
catalyst
for
advancing
science
for
the
benefit
of
society
as
well
as
for
the
involved
collaborators.
The
same
policies
and
strategies,
however,
often
emphasize
that
science-­industry
collaboration
is
difficult
and
demanding
due
to
inherent
and
often
incommensurable
differences
between
the
respective
goals
and
processes
of
academia
and
industry.

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One of the aims of the Eye-to-IT project is to investigate the possibility of
using eye-tracking devices for detecting situations of targeted help for human
translators. A prerequisite for automated assistance in human translation is
the understanding and modelling of reading behaviour, the ability to follow
human eye movements and to map gaze sample points — the output of eyetracking
devices — onto words and symbols fixated.
Within the Eye-to-IT project we currently use a so-called “Gaze-to-
Word Mapping” (GWM) device (ˇSpakov 2008) that first computes possible
fixations from sequences of gaze sample coordinates and then maps the fixations
on the words which are likely to be fixated.
This paper suggests an alternative framework of a probabilistic gaze
mapping model for reading, in which fixations on textual objects are directly
computed from the gaze sample points. The framework integrates various
knowledge sources with the aim to compute the most likely fixations on words
and symbols on the basis of the available data.

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From their beginning in the 1930s, critical theory and the Frankfurt school had their
focus on a critique of disturbed social relations in western society dominated by
totalitarian political regimes like Stalinism, Fascism, Nazism, and by capitalism as an
oppressive and destructive economic system and culture. Now, 80 years later, this
has all become history and thus it is time to leave the concept of critical theory behind
us, and instead bring the concept of critique to a broader theoretical framework like
hermeneutics. This allows the possibility of retaining the theoretical intentions of the
old Frankfurt school and at the same time there will be no boundaries by specific
dominant theoretical perspectives. In this paper, such a framework for a critical
hermeneutics is discussed on the basis of Weber’s, Gadamer’s, and Habermas’
theories on hermeneutics within the social sciences.